The Legend of Phantom Manor
by sweetsilverdusk
Summary: The story of Melanie Ravenwood's family secret.


Notes:

Ever since I discovered the world of the Haunt Mansion(s) at Disney, my all time favorite version is the Phantom Manor at the Disneyland in Paris. Although I have yet to actually go on the ride itself, the story behind it has always been with me.

Although it is well written, I wanted to write my own take on the Story of Melanie Ravenwood and the mysterious Skeletal phantom that appeared in the day of her wedding.

So, join me now for a tale of a family torn by disaster and death.

In the year of 1848, during the gold rush days, two brothers who owned the Big Thunder Mine built a beautiful and extravagant mansion which overlooked the town of Thunder Mesa.

The oldest of the brothers was a man named Aurthur, who was a refined man with a level head. As he was the eldest of the two, he looked after the family fortune by managing the business ventures, drafting ownership of the mine and it's workers, and investing in railroad and steamboat stocks. His wife, Gabrielle, always was at his side and offered assistance when he needed advice.

However, Arthur's younger brother, Henry, was a different man entirely. He spent mush of his time bullying the towns' folk as well as womanizing, which kept him at odds with his wife, Martha.

Despite everything between the two brothers and their wifes, Arthur and Gabrielle eventually had a daughter, a little girl by the name of Melanie. And Henry loved his little niece and was oddly very protective of the young girl, who forbade her to leave the manor or it's grounds to venture into town and socialize. Although Melanie's father felt he should've put an end to his younger brother's protectiveness of his daughter, Arthur could see reason behind the concern in his younger brother's eyes.

So poor Melanie had only her mother, Gabrielle, her Aunt Martha, the family dog, Goliathe, and the servants, Jasper and Anna Jones, to confide in and to talk to.

One day in 1860, tragedy struck the Ravenswood family when a terrible earthquake stuck Thunder Mesa. Henry was on an inspection tour with Jake, Arthur's foreman in the mines, when boulders and timber fell atop of Henry when the earthquake hit, killing him instantly.

It was only after Uncle Henry's death than Melanie and the rest of the family began to experience more "accidents."

Aunt Martha died a few weeks after her husband's death due to a weak heart. Six short years later, Jasper died when his horse was spooked by a rattlesnake on the manor grounds, the creature stomping his master to death before disappearing into the distance. A year later, a sickness fell over the manor, taking Melanie's father as it's first victim. Melanie stayed by her father's side with her mother and the loyal family dog.

But the worst was soon to come.

Debt began to pile up as the family fortune became lost, mostly by Uncle Henry's foolish spending. It looked like the end for the family legacy as Arthur eventually succumbed to the sickness in 1867. Gabrielle, his ever dear and devoted wife, passed away a year later, most likely from a broken heart.

Melanie was left all alone without any family to confide in.

Thankfully, life seemed to turn around after her parents' deaths. A family friend and socialite of her father's, Marie-Therese de Bourbon, came forward and help Melanie with settling the debts of her uncle. It was also around this time that her father's former foreman, Jake, came and proposed to Melanie and promised to take her to a new life, away from the terror that had thrived in the Ravenswood manor.

Melanie agreed, wanting nothing more than to be free of this nightmare that had haunted her for so long.

However, unknown to the young couple, a dark restless spirit, which had hovered over the manor for many years, became outraged by the idea of Melanie leaving.

On the day of the wedding, as Jake was preparing to marry the love of his life, a ghostly specter appeared in the mirror behind him. When he turned to face the specter, he was gone. Jake turned back to the mirror, thinking it was his imagination… but the specter was still in the mirror behind him. When he turned again, the specter was gone.

When Jake once again turned to the mirror, the specter he had seen standing behind him was now before him, holding a long rope with a noose on the end…

Meanwhile, the guests had begun filing into the manor. For the first time in a long while, happiness filled the mansion. Melanie stood at the alter with the priest and they waited for the groom to arrive.

Minutes passed… then an hour. An hour became two, then three.

Fear filled Melanie when suddenly a shape entered the main hall. It looked like Jake, but he was ruffled up. When Melanie spoke of her concern for him, Jake replied in a darker voice, a voice she had never heard from him before.

The marriage proceeded, and once the priest pronounced the couple "husband and wife," darkness filled the mansion.

Guests cried in fear as cackling filled the air and then shapes filled the room. Specters and ghosts of all shapes and sizes filled the room as the guests flew from their seats in terror.

Melanie turned to her groom only to scream in fright at the creature that stood before her.

Gone was her fiancé and in his place was a tall skeletal like figure in fine dress cloths. His gloved hands gripped Melanie's wrists as the dark voice spoke from the creature's skull, "Why, my dear, I think this is the part where I kiss my ravishing bride."

To this day, no one knows what became of Melanie Ravenswood nor of her ghostly groom. Many of the townsfolk believe that the phantom, as the creature is called, was Melanie's uncle determined to keep the young woman trapped within the manor. Others believe it was the devil himself, whom became infatuated by Melanie's beauty.

What is known, though, is that anyone who has dared to venture inside the Ravenswood Manor, which still stands like a dark cloud over Thunder Mesa, usually never returns. Those who have made it out alive have told stories of ghostly voices, mournful singing, a ravishing bride still waiting for her lover, and a vanishing groom with a skeletal smile.


End file.
